IOM: African Migrants Sold In Libya ’Slave Markets’
Local Editor
Africans trying to reach Europe are being sold by their captors in "slave markets" in Libya, the International Organization for Migration [IOM] reported.
Victims told IOM that after being detained by people smugglers or militia groups, they were taken to town squares or car parks to be sold.
Migrants with skills like painting or tiling would fetch higher prices, the head of the IOM in Libya told the BBC.
Libya has been in chaos since the 2011 NATO-backed ousting of longtime dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
Hundreds of young sub-Saharan African men have been caught up in the so-called slave markets, according to the IOM report.
A Senegalese migrant, who was not named to protect his identity, said that he had been sold at one such market in the southern Libyan city of Sabha, before being taken to a makeshift prison where more than 100 migrants were being held hostage.
He said that migrants held at the facility were told to call their families, who would be asked for money to pay for their release, and some were beaten while on the phone to allow relatives to hear them being tortured.
He described "dreadful" conditions where migrants were forced to survive on limited food supplies, with those unable to pay either killed or left to starve, the report adds.
Another witness, who was able to raise the funds needed for his release after nine months, was later taken to hospital with severe malnutrition, weighing just 5.5 stone [35 kg].
The IOM's chief of mission for Libya, Othman Belbeisi, told the BBC that those sold into slavery found themselves priced according to their abilities.
"Apparently they don't have money and their families cannot pay the ransom, so they are being sold to get at least a minimum benefit from that," he said.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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